India slips 10 places in Global Innovation Index

India's ranking in the Global Innovation Index has fallen to 76 position from 66 in 2013, the government said on Wednesday quoting a report.

In a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha, Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Science and Technology, said, "As a part of the Global Innovation Index Report 2014, co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD and WIPO, India has fallen to 76 position from 66 in 2013."

Please . . .

The image is used for representational purpose only

GII measures national innovation performance based on a set of variables to both innovation input and output.

"New initiatives of the government are already underway to build an appropriate innovation system which also addresses some of the country specific challenges and gap areas as highlighted in the GII 2014 report," the minister said.

He added that to address the problem National Innovation Foundation has been set up by the Department of Science and Technology.

Please . . .

The image is used for representational purpose only

This supports grassroot innovations and outstanding traditional knowledge, to help the innovators to develop technologies by providing the risk capital, helping in development and documentation, value addition, Intellectual Property Right protection, business development, commercialisation and social diffusion.

Responding to another question, Singh said there has not been any slowdown in the field of research in Science and Technology in recent years.

Please . . .

The image is used for representational purpose only

"Citation impact of papers, measured as a qualitative parameter in research, has increased from 0.35 to 0.68 in 2006-10 period relative to 1981-85.

“There is an 81 per cent increase in the number of highly cited papers during 2006-10 relative to 2001-05 period (4723 highly cited papers in 2006-10 as against 2610 in 2001-05).

"The patents filed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in India and abroad have risen from 340 in 2009-10 to 562 in 2013-14.

Please . . .

The image is used for representational purpose only

“India's position globally in the field of scientific research and development, as measured

by the number of research papers published, has improved from thirteenth the Scopus International database," the minister said.

He added that in case of research in chemistry, India ranks fifth in the world with respect to scientific publications and today the country is placed third in terms of scientific publications in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.

Please . . .

The image is used for representational purpose only

Responding to another question, Singh said that the number of students involved in research in different science establishments in the country is estimated to be around 70,000.

"As per the data available, the number of research scholars who received doctorate degree in the science and technology during 2008-2009, 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 are 7564, 7268 and 8302 respectively," he said.

Please . . .

The image is used for representational purpose only

The minister added that India's researchers per million has increased from 140 in 2005 to 164 in 2010 and 0.88 per cent of the gross domestic product was devoted on R&D in 2009-2010 while the industry spent 0.30 per cent of the GDP on R&D during the same period.

"As on April 1 2010, 1,49,828 personnel were employed in 1893 industrial sector R&D units, out of which 82,814 were engaged directly on R&D activities," Singh said.

The image is used for representational purpose only